PART TWO: CHAPTER THIRTY -THREE - Jo's Journal Practice Quiz — Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: PART TWO: CHAPTER THIRTY -THREE - Jo's Journal
Where does Jo live and work in Chapter 33?
At Mrs. Kirke's boardinghouse in New York City, where she serves as a governess and seamstress caring for children Kitty and Minnie.
What is Jo's "sky parlor"?
A cozy little room at the top of Mrs. Kirke's tall house, with a stove, a table in a sunny window, a fine view, and a church tower opposite. Jo uses it for writing.
Who is Professor Friedrich Bhaer?
A German scholar from Berlin, nearly forty years old, who lives at Mrs. Kirke's boardinghouse. He is kind, learned, and poor, giving lessons to support himself and his two orphan nephews.
How does Jo first observe Professor Bhaer's character?
She sees him carry a heavy coal hod upstairs for a small servant girl, saying "It goes better so. The little back is too young to haf such heaviness." Jo quotes her father: "trifles show character."
Who is Tina?
The small daughter of the French laundrywoman who works in the boardinghouse. Tina adores Professor Bhaer and follows him everywhere, calling him "mine effalunt" during play.
How do the young men at the boardinghouse describe Jo?
They call her "the new party," identify her as a "governess, or something of that sort," and say she has a "handsome head, but no style." Jo is angered but then dismisses them.
Who is Miss Norton?
A rich, cultivated, and kind maiden lady living in the boardinghouse. She befriends Jo, shows her a room full of treasures, and invites her to lectures and concerts as her escort.
What story does Jo use to win over the Kirk children?
She tells them "The Seven Bad Pigs," which wins them over immediately and helps establish her role as their governess.
How does Jo discover Professor Bhaer's teaching style?
Through a glass door between the nursery and Mrs. Kirke's parlor, Jo peeps at and overhears Bhaer giving lessons to his students, and begins trying to learn German by listening.
Why does Bhaer offer Jo German lessons?
He catches her secretly mending his clothes (darning socks, replacing buttons) and practicing German verbs she overheard. He insists on repaying her kindness with lessons, saying he has "an eye" and sees her good deeds.
What happens when Jo gets stuck in a "grammatical bog"?
After four frustrating lessons, the Professor throws the grammar book on the floor and marches out. He returns with Hans Andersen's fairy tales, proposing they read them together instead, with grammar "tucked into the tales and poetry as one gives pills in jelly."
What book does Professor Bhaer give Jo for New Year's?
A fine volume of Shakespeare from his personal collection, inscribed "from my friend Friedrich Bhaer." He tells her the study of character in Shakespeare will help her "read it in the world and paint it with your pen."
What character does Jo play at the New Year's Eve masquerade?
Mrs. Malaprop. She disguises her voice and dances so well that afterward a young man claims he remembers seeing her at "one of the minor theaters."
What characters do Professor Bhaer and Tina play at the masquerade?
Professor Bhaer plays Nick Bottom and Tina plays Titania—characters from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
What does Jo's postscript at the end of her November letter reveal?
She admits the letter is "rather Bhaery" but claims she is "always interested in odd people" and "had nothing else to write about"—an unconscious admission of her growing interest in the Professor.
How does Bhaer describe Jo's approach to learning German?
After she reads her first page in a "neck-or-nothing style," tumbling over words and pronouncing by inspiration, he claps his hands and cries "Das ist gut! Now we go well!"
What does the chapter format (journal-letters) reveal about Jo?
The epistolary format showcases Jo's wit, her identity as a writer, and creates dramatic irony—readers can see her developing feelings for Bhaer before she consciously recognizes them.
What game does Professor Bhaer play with the children on Saturday afternoons?
"Menagerie" ("nargerie" as Kitty says)—Bhaer crawls on hands and knees as an elephant with Tina on his back, Kitty leads him with a jump rope, and the boys roar in cages made of chairs.
How does Jo describe Professor Bhaer's physical appearance?
"A regular German—rather stout, with brown hair tumbled all over his head, a bushy beard, good nose, the kindest eyes I ever saw, and a splendid big voice." His clothes are rusty with missing buttons and a patched shoe, but he looks like a gentleman.
What does Jo reflect on at the end of Chapter 33?
She reflects that she is "getting on a little in spite of my many failures"—she is cheerful, works with a will, and takes more interest in other people than she used to, showing her personal growth in New York.
Who are Franz and Emil?
Professor Bhaer's two orphan nephews whom he is educating in America according to the wishes of his late sister. They visit on Saturday afternoons and are described as "jolly little lads" with a mixture of German and American spirit.